Canonical reveals Ubuntu for Android

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Canonical is making good on its promise to bring its popular Ubuntu flavor of Linux to a broader range of devices by announcing Ubuntu for Android, a release that will enable a full desktop computing experience on a docked Android smartphone. More than just a virtualized app that behaves like Ubuntu, the developers have melded together the Ubuntu architecture with the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) AOSP build at the kernel level. The result is, from what we’ve seen, a harmony between the two platforms that could make a lot of sense for demanding mobile users.

To begin the introduction to Ubuntu for Android, let’s start with what Ubuntu for Android isn’t: it’s not a new mobile OS. Rather than try to enter the arena to take on Apple, Microsoft, and Google, Canonical instead chose to build a package that leverages the popularity of Android. This means Canonical is building on top of the world’s fastest growing mobile platform as a value-add. It’s a move that allows Ubuntu to augment the Android experience as opposed to attempt to replace it. This new release is best understood as a convergence between your mobile and desktop computing environments.

In an interview with Canonical CEO Jane Silber, I was able to grasp the driving idea behind Ubuntu for Android in the scheme of Canonical’s overarching vision for Ubuntu. Right now, you most likely carry a smartphone, laptop, and perhaps a tablet device of some kind. Each has a specific purpose in your day, but adds an amount of weight and time to your mobile computing. With the release of this software distribution, Canonical has unveiled that its goal is to narrow down the amount of devices that you carry to just one that will provide the same functionality of all three items mentioned above.

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It’s quite disappointing that they are not releasing the source. Is there anything “open source” that is truly open anymore?

Nicholas Schubach

I’d like clarification… PCPro states:
“Silber said Ubuntu for Android would be released under an open source license, but that Canonical expects it to mostly be pre-installed on specific hardware.”http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/373024/canonical-puts-ubuntu-on-android-smartphones

So it would seem to me like there’s a conflict of stories here. Is it open or is it not?

Ray Walters

Nicholas,

In my interview with Silber, I asked her specifically about releasing the software to 3rd party developers like Cyanogenmod to include in builds of Android. Silber replied that while Ubuntu is open-source, the implementation of the platform in this way isn’t. I will certainly forward your question on to them and see if there is some clarification.

Anonymous

Because while the software is open source, the driver is not, almost all third-party driver in an Android phone is closed-source.

Lupius

So basically Ubuntu got downgraded from an OS to a UI shell?

Ray Walters

Hi there,

No, this is a full version of Ubuntu running, not virtualized in anyway. Not a UI shell at all.

Ray Walters

Hi there,

No, this is a full version of Ubuntu running, not virtualized in anyway. Not a UI shell at all.

Anonymous

Why would one want annoying Unity interface in Android?

Ray Walters

It’s not in Android actually, when using the device as a phone there is no hint of Ubuntu. When you dock the device, it will power a full Ubuntu desktop.

Ray Walters

It’s not in Android actually, when using the device as a phone there is no hint of Ubuntu. When you dock the device, it will power a full Ubuntu desktop.

I have now officially dropped my support for anything Canonical. Keeping this “Closed Source-ish” is the opposite of the spirit of Ubuntu and Linux and for that matter to a point Android as well. This move is done purely for profit not for the community. Thus ends the era of free Ubuntu.

Fadzlan

Controlling the release of an open source software is not new. Its being done by the host OS as well, Android.

From what I understand, the source will be released, when the binary does. Hence, community can fix add and do anything they want with the released version, but they won’t have the access to the pre-released version.

If you talk about GPL, yes, you are required to release the source with the binary, but there is nothing stopping you from holding the release of the source of something that you have not released yet.

Any SEO

And then can we get the HMD market to catch up so we can finally sit comfortably at any angle and work? I should be able to code while laying back in my lounge chair beside my pool, simultaneously working on my tan… with my wireless HMD sync’d up to my cell phone.

Marc GP

I think it’s really awesome. True convergence, being able to dock at home your phone/tablet and switch to full desktop mode using the rich ecosystem of Ubuntu apps.

Canonical has made a brilliant decision. Unity is still controversial in teh Ubuntu community but most people agree that this Ubuntu for Android is a step forward not only for Ubuntu or Linux but also for mobile and desktop computing because it serves to bridge that gap that is still left a void.

Benjamin Justice

Talk about a low-power business desktop.

Office? its there
Mail? its there

Depending on how its implemented,
it would be BEAUTIFUL, if i could develop in Java.

P.S.

Why do you want the source to a modified Android 2.3?
I see more damage than anything else when I think about what happened with
the original Android 2.3 (Archos Tablets?)

They should at least let those of us with access to the drivers (OG rooted Atrix owners for example) get our hands on that code! All Motorola phones that run webtop already have the partition (/OSH) and drivers in place. In the video they’re clearly using an Atrix2

Anonymous

I think this will fail. First, they mention it’s for devices running android 2.3, when the people that would actually use this would be people already using ICS (I don’t see
the average Android 2.3 users being interested in Ubuntu, they prob don’t even know what Ubuntu is!)

ICS is already very good when connected to a TV/monitor and with mouse/keyboard (even via Bluetooth).

And lastly, don’t you think Google is probably already working on either making ICS even better on the big screen and/or a solution to switch ICS to Chrome when docking the device?

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